Council buses win Australian-first green award

In an Australian first, Brisbane City Council’s bus fleet has been awarded the Australian Lung Foundation’s inaugural Green Leaf Award.

The prestigious award recognises Council’s use of Enhanced Environmentally Friendly Vehicles (EEV) as part of its ongoing commitment to improving Brisbane’s air quality.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said the 500 additional buses his administration had promised to deliver this term used new “clean diesel” technology which has lower or equivalent emissions to natural gas buses.

“With an increasing number of Council buses on our roads carrying a record 72 million passengers last year alone, it is important that our fleet meets the highest air emissions standards,” he said.

“This is in addition to the purchase of carbon offsets for our fleet of over 1070 buses and 15 City Cats.”

Cr Newman said clean fuel options such as EEV meet the strictest emissions standards enforced in Europe and ensure air quality is maintained in a fast-growing city

“Not only is my Can Do team tackling traffic congestion with record $160 million commitment to public transport this term, we are doing so with the vision to improve Brisbane’s air quality,” he said.

“In keeping our vision for Brisbane to be Australia’s New World City, we are also dedicated to making it Australia’s most sustainable city.”

Australian Lung Foundation CEO William Darbishire said Brisbane City Council buses were assessed on current practices, as well as its long term plans.

“This is the first award of this nature and we wanted to recognise Brisbane City Council for its endeavours to continually improve the fleet by phasing out old diesel buses and replacing them with new EEV buses.

“The Lung Foundation is painfully aware that ‘when you can’t breathe…nothing else matters’, so please keep up the great work to reduce emissions in our wonderful city,” Mr. Darbishire said.

Council is investing $164 million in public transport in 2009/2010, including the delivery of 125 new buses and the commencement of planning and construction of two new bus depots in the north and south of the city.